2020 -- H 7643 | |
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LC003232 | |
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STATE OF RHODE ISLAND | |
IN GENERAL ASSEMBLY | |
JANUARY SESSION, A.D. 2020 | |
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H O U S E R E S O L U T I O N | |
RECOGNIZING THE RHODE ISLAND SLAVE HISTORY MEDALLION STATEWIDE | |
EDUCATION PROGRAM | |
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Introduced By: Representatives Carson, Abney, Almeida, Hull, and Williams | |
Date Introduced: February 25, 2020 | |
Referred To: House read and passed | |
1 | WHEREAS, Rhode Island Slave History Medallions is a non-profit statewide public |
2 | awareness program committed to educating the Rhode Island public about the state's role in the |
3 | slave trade during the colonial period from 1638 to 1843, and marking with slave history |
4 | medallions those historic Rhode Island sites that were connected to the transatlantic slave trade; |
5 | and |
6 | WHEREAS, Tragically, Rhode Island played a significant part in the slave trade through |
7 | its role in building, owning, sailing, and insuring slave ships, making the slave trade a major part |
8 | of the Rhode Island economy during this period. Rhode Islanders also distilled molasses into rum |
9 | and built the barrels for the rum that was used in the slave trade. Rhode Islanders also owned |
10 | sugar plantations in Cuba and Barbados that used and exploited African and Native American |
11 | slaves, shipped agricultural commodities to the Caribbean which allowed the slave plantations to |
12 | stay in operation, and even manufactured iron chains and manacles for the slave trade; and |
13 | WHEREAS, To be eligible for a Rhode Island Slave History Medallion, a site must have |
14 | verifiable evidence of a connection to the slave trade history in Rhode Island. Sites selected can |
15 | be public or private. They can be homes, offices and work sites of those that were involved in the |
16 | slave trade. It can also be sites where slaves lived and/or labored as well as sites that were |
17 | connected to government officials who shaped the policies of the slave trade in Rhode Island; and |
18 | WHEREAS, The Rhode Island History Medallions Project will make the history of the |
19 | Slave Trade in Rhode Island more accessible to Rhode Islanders. The Medallions placed at slave- |
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1 | related historical localities serve as awareness educational symbols. In the words of Mr. Lonnie |
2 | B. Bunch, III, 14th Secretary of the Smithsonian, “Let us use history to inspire us to push a |
3 | country forward, to help us believe that all things are possible and to demand a country lives up to |
4 | its stated ideals”; now, therefore be it |
5 | RESOLVED, That this House of Representatives of the State of Rhode Island and |
6 | Providence Plantations hereby recognizes the Rhode Island Slave History Medallions awareness |
7 | program and we hope all Rhode Islanders will take some time to learn more about this important |
8 | part of Rhode Island history; and be it further |
9 | RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State be and hereby is authorized and directed to |
10 | transmit a duly certified copy of this resolution to Mr. Charles Roberts, Chairman, Rhode Island |
11 | Slave History Medallions. |
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LC003232 | |
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